Damian Lillard believes he isn’t appreciated for his exploits through 13 years in the NBA.
On the “Club520” podcast, the Bucks guard called out critics who place Stephen Curry in rarefied air but don’t include him in the same conversation for greatest shooter ever.
“They definitely don’t talk about it [my shooting],” Lillard said. “They act like I’ve not been doing what I’ve been doing for 13 seasons. When I think about my time in the league, there haven’t been many who’ve been doing it over and over. But I think people just get bored with consistency. I ain’t loud, but like [expletive], I’ve been doing it that long and winning. It ain’t like I’ve been doing it and I’m just playing for a team that never plays in the playoffs.”
It’s rather delusional on Lillard’s part to suggest he hasn’t been appreciated.
First, he made the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team over proven NBA champions such as Dwight Howard, Klay Thompson, Kyrie Irving, Pau Gasol, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.
Second, he was rewarded with All-NBA and All-Star selections even when his teams missed the playoffs (in 2023) or suffered first-round sweeps (in 2017, 2018 and 2020).
Third, the front offices of the two franchises he’s played for left no stone unturned to satisfy his every whim. The Blazers let a prime LaMarcus Aldridge walk, just to hand the keys to Lillard, and held onto his beloved coach, Terry Stotts, for far too long to acquiesce to the star guard. Similarly, the Bucks reportedly fired Adrian Griffin because he and Lillard “never saw eye to eye” on Xs and Os.
Sorry, but a player who isn’t appreciated doesn’t get the red carpet rolled out like that.
At some point, the basketball community must realize that Lillard didn’t live up to the top billing he was tagged with a decade ago. Some will cite his two iconic buzzer-beaters while ignoring that Lillard’s teams failed to advance past the first round in six of his nine playoff appearances (including three sweeps). And his only conference finals appearance ended in disaster, with Lillard shooting 36 percent from the field.
As great as Lillard has been, there’s a reason he isn’t mentioned in the same breath as Curry. The Oakland native has shot over 40 percent from three just once in his career. Curry’s worst shooting season (.380) was better than Lillard’s career percentage (.371) from three. As the kids would say, levels.
